The Hockey Mom vs. The Senator: Reacting To the Vice Presidential Debate
By Doug Mataconis | Related entries in 2008 Election, Biden, PalinGoing in to this debate, the focus was entirely and completely on Sarah Palin. Thanks largely to a series of less than stellar interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric, the initial excitement about Palin had diminished to the point where polls were clearly indicating that she was a serious drag on McCain’s electoral chances.
Therefore, her mission tonight was fairly straightforward — she needed to at least do well enough to put aside the doubts about her own qualifications and stop the negative impact she was having on McCain’s Presidential chances. Given how bad some of those interviews had gone, and how ingrained the public impression of her was becoming thanks in part to Tina Fey’s impersonation, that wasn’t an easy task.
For Joe Biden, the job was a bit simpler. He needed to make sure that he didn’t do anything to hurt the ticket and that he didn’t make the same mistakes that George H.W. Bush did in 1984 and thereby engender sympathy for his opponent.
I’m writing this blog post free of any spin, pundit analysis, or the opinion of any other blogger. If it turns out that I’ve totally misread things tonight, well, then, that’s that, but here’s how I saw it.
Going into this debate, I was frankly expecting that Sarah Palin would do pretty well. For one thing, and thanks to a series of disastrous interviews, my expectations were fairly low and, as I noted this morning, there was some indication from her campaign for Governor that Palin was at the very least a mildly competent debater. Additionally, it was fairly clear that the McCain campaign had realized that the Palin/Couric interviews had not gone well at all and it seemed like they were taking steps to make sure that the VP candidate would be ready to make a good impression tonight.
Boy, was I wrong.
The Sarah Palin that showed up tonight was the same Sarah Palin that was unable to give Charlie Gibson any real coherent response to substantive foreign policy questions, the same Sarah Palin that babbled a response to foreign policy questions from Katie Couric, and the same Sarah Palin who didn’t seem to be able to remember a single Supreme Court case other than Roe v. Wade.
The answers that Palin gave were in the same rambling, semi-coherent style as the answers she gave to questions from Gibson and Couric and, for the most part, all she really seemed to do was repeat the same platitudes over and over again. John McCain is a “maverick.” She comes from a state that produces a lot of energy. She’s an outsider. McCain is a “reformer.”
You know the drill.
More than once, I found myself hitting the reversing button on TiVo and listening to one of Palin’s response again because, quite honestly, I couldn’t understand what the heck she was saying. “Please Sarah just one coherent sentence. Just one” as I asked in one Twitter message during the debate. But, alas, they seemed to be few and far between.
Now don’t get me wrong. On substance, I disagreed with pretty much everything Joe Biden had to say — except when it came to pointing out the missteps, mistakes, and outright fabrications that the Bush Administration engaged in when it comes to the Iraq War — but at least I understood what the heck it was that he was saying.
With Palin, it seemed like I was struggling to understand her everytime she spoke. To me, she just didn’t come across as Presidential, or even as someone who I would be content with assuming the Presidency should that need ever arise.
There were times when it seemed apparent that Palin was completely out of her league and that became readily apparent when the subject changed to foreign policy. Whether you agree with him or not, it’s fairly obvious that Joe Biden knows what he’s talking about when it comes to foreign policy. Sarah Palin sounded, yet again, like she was reciting lines out of briefing book or a debate rehearsal.
Others may disagree, but my feeling is that Sarah Palin completely failed in her mission tonight. I don’t believe that she did anything to erase the doubts that clearly exist in the public’s mind regarding her own qualifications or her readiness to assume the Presidency in the event of John McCain’s death, and, beyond repeating campaign slogans we hear every day from Sean Hannity and his ilk, I don’t believe she did all that much to advance the McCain for President campaign.
Of course, my opinion doesn’t matter any more than that of any other pundits, so it will be interesting to see what impact tonight’s event has on the race.
Cross-posted at Below The Beltway
This entry was posted on Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Biden, Palin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:32 pm
I watched those old debate clips as well. She didn’t say anything then either. But, for whatever reason, some people seem fine with that? I’m not a huge Biden fan. I wish it was an Obama/Clinton ticket… or Clinton/Obama ticket. Either way. (I still don’t understand why it isn’t?) Powerful team. But, I would feel comfortable with Biden. Palin. No way.
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:35 pm
“Please Sarah just one coherent sentence. Just one” as I asked in one Twitter message during the debate.
And how many twitters did you post that denegrated Biden? Read your twitters, dimwit. You are not only biased, you are lying to your readers about being neutral.
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:50 pm
If you weren’t really paying attention to what Palin was saying (ironing, paying bills, folding laundry, chasing around the kids or doing other work around the house) I dont think her performance came off as that bad.
She definitely has TV training and it shows by how she looked straight into the camera when she spoke.
Unfortunately, I think voters this time around (esp independent voters) are tuned in, so it does hurt her that she is a bit of a lightweight–an incoherent lightweight.
October 2nd, 2008 at 10:06 pm
I love it when people like TwitterHead come here from Google and don’t realize we’re a blog.
Folks, Donklephant is a political forum for people of all political stripes who have passionate opinions and appreciate healthy debate. What it’s not is a place to denigrate somebody’s character.
So TwitterHead, shape up or ship out.
October 2nd, 2008 at 10:26 pm
I’m sorry but I do not feel as though a Vice Presidential DEBATE is the time nor place to give a “SHOUT OUT” to ANYONE!
October 3rd, 2008 at 7:38 am
Doug, I had the exact same impression, and this morning I am in shock that so many folks in the media are saying she held her own or did well. In a nutshell, rambling and incoherent about cover it.
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The only conclusion I can make is that the general public is so used to not being able to understand politicians that Palin seemed the same.
October 3rd, 2008 at 6:20 pm
You must have been spending too much time on a different planet altogether - its warped your perception, if there is any truth in your claim to objectivity. But as you sound like one of the new democrats that have mushroomed out of the self-indulgent and valueless feces of this new society, I suspect you’re doing the usual thing - lying.
She not only held her own, she won the debate. You would expect Biden with his decades of campaign experience to have done much better. But considering the fact that he has done nothing substantive in the Senate for all those years, it’s amazing that he got even 9000 votes in the primary. Palin did great and she showed us a more wholesome and refreshing persona. One without the smug conceit and deceit that Biden is known for.
It’s disappointing though that she didn’t point out that if McCain is just another Bush, isn’t it surprising, with all the democrats that it was possible to choose from, Kerry chose - not Biden - but McCain as his running mate. Of course McCain turned him down, and Kerry chose his second choice - Edwards - way way back in the old days, when Obama was still an Illinois senator and having parties with Rezko and Ayers & Co..
October 4th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
A debate should not be about how good you look. It should be about how well you can answer questions regarding the issues our nation faces every single day.
In that regard, Biden crushed Palin. Period.
Putting aside my personal disdain for her patronizing attitude and heinously phony “folksy” talk (since, as I said, that’s not what counts), she absolutely failed to give straight answers. Any time she didn’t know what the moderator was talking about, she went back to “energy” because it was what she had been coached on. And if it wasn’t energy, it was “Alaska”, McCain being a “maverick”, or her experience as a mom. What do any of those things have to do with McCain’s policies? There were a lot of questions that she just didn’t answer clearly, and the few she did certainly failed to appeal to me. (Expanding the powers of VP? No, thank you!)
Biden, on the other hand, had an answer for everything. I loved the way he retaliated and listed reasons as to why McCain is not a maverick, because he was able to drive the point home for everyone watching. He answered questions clearly and to the point. He cited examples when he spoke and had good rebuttals for all of her points, and it was clear that he knew his stuff. He did a fantastic job, and I’m appalled that he’s not getting more credit for it.
I wish more people would wake up and realize that Palin has all the substance of a dime store bodice ripper. Biden is much more deserving of the title of Vice President.